Chapter 4514 — Into the Wolf's Den Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Unfortunately, this was underwater, where the Super Butterfly Microstep was useless; to move, he could only swim, and that speed was truly nothing to boast of. Wei Zhao's swimming was passable, but only a little better than an ordinary man's. Without dedicated training, there was no chance of moving as freely as he did on land.
Yet if Wei Zhao was slow, the Ghost Electric Ray rising in a killing rush from beneath him was not. As those deep purple arcs of extreme danger kept slicing past him, Wei Zhao finally became aware of that enormous ghostly face closing in fast from below, and his scalp prickled with numbness.
It was called the Ghost Electric Ray precisely because, seen from above, its back resembled a huge, hideous ghost face. It was like a death notice, for the moment a human cultivator made out that ghostly face clearly, it meant his end was near.
Wei Zhao's heart was a tangle of every feeling at once, plunging to the bottom in an instant. Today he had truly left the house without consulting the almanac—when a man's luck turns sour, even cold water gets stuck between his teeth. What lay before him was that saying come to life...
He had never seen a Ghost Electric Ray, but judging purely by the dangerous aura it radiated, this creature of grotesque and wicked appearance was absolutely no easy opponent. Never mind that he was now being hunted by the Xishan Old Sect—even in ordinary times, Wei Zhao might not have been confident of handling a Ghost Electric Ray, for this was, after all, in the water.
The Ghost Electric Ray had none of the Xishan Old Sect's patience. Once it had fixed its eyes on Wei Zhao, it struck at once. Countless arcs of deep purple current, horrifying to behold, scattered outward from the ghost face on its back. At first glance they seemed wholly disordered, yet a closer look revealed that these currents had formed a three-dimensional cage, trapping Wei Zhao alive within it.
At the same time, the Ghost Electric Ray's long, slender, pitch-black tail thrust suddenly at Wei Zhao's back from an angle of extreme cunning. This was a true master of the surprise attack; its speed even Wei Zhao's Super Butterfly Microstep could not rival—and especially in the water, such speed was well-nigh invincible.
The jade pendant's alarm clanged wildly, and Wei Zhao finally reacted in the split second before disaster. At any cost he poured out his true qi with all his strength, shifting his body a small step sideways in an instant. The Ghost Electric Ray's spine-chilling tail skewered past almost grazing his ear; though it did not touch him, the violent current of water it dragged in its wake left a long, narrow gash of blood across Wei Zhao's cheek—a shocking sight.
Its strike missed, and the Ghost Electric Ray gave an eerie cry. The purple lightning cage entrapping Wei Zhao tightened swiftly in response, as though it meant to electrocute him alive.
The Ghost Electric Ray's mightiest weapon was, naturally, the terrifying current it emitted. Measured in the units of the mortal world, its intensity reached at least a hundred million volts—more than enough to electrocute any Nascent Soul expert alive.
Unless absolutely necessary, the Ghost Electric Ray generally would not kill directly with electricity, for that would ruin the quality of the prey's flesh. So its first strike was usually to trap the prey in the purple lightning cage and then kill it with its long tail. Only, Wei Zhao had just dodged that strike, leaving it no choice but this lesser resort.
Even if the flesh were a little scorched and ruined, that was still better than letting the prey escape. Such was the Ghost Electric Ray's hunting strategy.